One Way
by WillNotTell
Summary: It might have been a mistake or coincidence. But maybe it was Fate who played with their lifes. There's only one way to fix this... Marriage Law one-shot, please read and review.


_A. N. so it's my attempt for a marriage law fic... I named it after a song I was currently listening to, Xavier Naidoo - One Way. I do not own and do not try to own that song or HP. _

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One lightning flashed through the grey sky and thunder more like a whisper rumbled above her head as she opened the letter. It came in early morning but she couldn't read it then – always in a rush. And yet, it didn't seem to be very important thing. There was no hurry because Hermione knew exactly whose name she'd see on the paper. She and Ron were perfectly happy together, they were made for each other and she didn't expect silly Ministry's tests to show any other results. That simply wasn't possible, though as weather tried to threaten her, Hermione did feel a little worry inside.

But the storm never came. Only some drops touched the ground, dark clouds were already dispersing in the horizon. And soon lazy thunder was changed with a growl which grew louder and stronger in moments. Hermione cursed under her now frantic breath.

She cursed again. And again. A terrified painful scream left her mouth as she fell on the slightly wet grass. Hermione raised her eyes to the single dark cloud hanging around, she was right under it. And it reminded her someone… _the same disgustingly cold grey_.

"You!" she shouted. "This–is–not–happening… Over my dead body! You hear me, Malfoy? No, if anyone's going to die, it'll be you! I would never marry such moron… never!"

She was dead angry and couldn't think properly. Still, Hermione managed to remember his supposed living place, the new flat so many articles in the _Daily Prophet_ wrote about that you couldn't have missed it.

She found it very hard to breathe. It was more than unfair, it was a torture. The worst nightmare anyone could have thought of to make her life a complete miserable disaster. _Hermione and Malfoy… no, it's not right, everyone is insane to even think about it… I love Ron! _She felt as if her life was being torn apart, as if her own body… and the worst of those feelings was the fear that it was real. That she wouldn't wake up, that even though at the moment she was so angry she could kill, she wouldn't be able to do that. It wasn't actually his fault, was it? But it did not matter, Hermione _wanted _blood, she needed to let those emotions out and _he_ seemed like a pretty good scapegoat.

As the angry witch stormed to Malfoy's flat she was imagining how good it would feel to shout at him, maybe even hex him and he would act completely the same, they would argue loudly and stuff would crash... but in the end they would have to calm down in order to think of how to fix this.

It wasn't allowed to apparate straight into the flat but it was not a trouble for Hermione. A simple Blasting Charm made her way in. He must have heard a heavy thud when the door had exploded, yet no one showed up to _greet_ her. The place seemed too calm in an uncanny way but she chose to go deeper into the flat anyway.

_Great, the ferret-boy, probably, isn't even at home. Though I could cheer myself up without him…_

She was about to cause some damage to an innocent plant looking rather ugly with its spiky greyish leaves, when something had caught her attention. It was an acrid smell so strong it made her cough several times. Her heart began to beat faster – something was not right. As curious as she was, young witch followed the smell into the next room.

There she finally saw him. Malfoy stood behind his working desk brewing some kind of potion which must have been the cause of the smell. His position was somehow insecure, face distracted and tired.

"What are you doing?"

"Granger?" He looked at her very surprised. "I... no, you have to get out, it's not safe here."

"What? What is _this_ that you are making?"

"Please, just go."

"Ha, since then a Malfoy knows such word?"

"Look, breathing steam of this po–potion can be harmful, so…"

Hermione didn't like the situation at all. Clearly, it wasn't just a potion. It had to be a poison and a deadly one for sure. Knowing the circumstances they were in it wouldn't have surprised if he was making it for her, but at the moment he was risking his own life (so not Malfoy-ish) and expressing concern for hers.

"What?" He asked as she continued to examine him.

"Are you going to commit suicide because you have to marry me?"

"Yes." He smiled. "Now, go."

"No, there's something else. And I'm not going anywhere until I know what."

He sighed pouring carefully the poison into glass bottle, then cleaned everything and opened the windows with graceful moves of his wand. She could tell he was dizzy, so how he managed to act so gracefully? Hermione thought it had to be another silly Malfoy–ish thing.

Draco led her to the farthest room from this one so they could talk. It had to be his bedroom as there was large luxurious bed right below the window from which you could see the loveliest sight of the town. The room was bright and surprisingly live. Its walls were coloured with light shade of warm brown, she could smell cinnamon and vanilla as from the left her side on the shelf incense was burning. The smell reminded her home, everything there seemed comfortable and as soon as she realised it, she found it rather scary.

"Er, I don't know what to tell actually." He said.

"What's this all about?"

"Well, you know." He shrugged shoulders casually.

"No, I don't."

"I can't marry you, you understand that, right? And I don't want to go to Azkaban or live as a muggle for the rest of my life, so what options do I have? None…"

"Wait, so you are really suggesting that you were about to kill yourself?"

"No, I still am. Is it so hard to believe?"

"Of course! That's the least thing I'd expect. I don't know, why not to try to kill me instead? That would make sense."

"Why should I? It would only mean I'd have to marry someone else. And I couldn't…" He stopped and looked straight at her.

"What?"

"Nothing, just…" He continued staring and she couldn't stand it, it felt as if he was drilling inside of her.

"This is all so stupid! Who could come up with such nonsense? If only we got engaged earlier…"

"You and Weasley? Yeah, why weren't you? That could have saved someone's life, you know."

"It's not your business and I couldn't care less about _you_." She snapped.

"I'm pleased to know, would you leave now then?

Hermione wanted to leave, she shouldn't have come here in the first place. It was futile to expect they could do anything about this situation and she didn't even felt the need to hex Malfoy as he was standing right in front of her. But it was too late.

"No, I can't. I can't just let you to kill yourself, even though I find it impossible to believe."

"I–I'll tell you something and you'll leave." He turned away from her. "It's my fault."

As he spoke his voice sounded guilty and even ashamed.

"When we bumped into each other at the Ministry, the day we had to take these tests, I had a hangover, I wasn't thinking properly. And you were so happy laughing at something the Weasel said… Do you remember how you looked at me? There was contempt on your faces and it got me angry. I wanted to do something so you both wouldn't smile anymore."

"What have you done?" Hermione gasped.

"I cheated… I have no idea how it worked, but obviously it did."

"What? But… you have to tell officials, they'll fix everything! We could take tests again if–"

"Don't you think I've already tried this? No one at the Ministry wants to hear that there was a mistake and that it was quite easy to fool testing charms. They say it's impossible, the results are final."

Draco watched as she sank slowly to the floor hesitating whether he should try to comfort her or not.

"No." She whispered at last. "If I go now, your death will be on me. It'd be the same as hitting you with a killing curse."

"So what then?" He shouted kneeling near and grabbing roughly her shoulders. "What do you want? We _can't_ get married, don't you understand?"

"You should have thought better before messing with tests!"

"At least I'm thinking now. Leave." He breathed.

They were so close she could see every part of his face and what scared her most was the fact that she kind of liked what she saw. It felt so strange, wrong even. Hermione looked him in the eyes for the first time thinking they weren't that cold but, if she was honest, beautiful. There was _something_ deep in the silver though she did not know what.

"This is how it has to end."

"How can you be so calm? It's your life!"

"Yes, it is _my_ life and I've made _my_ choice. All I am asking is to respect it."

Draco didn't want her to leave, to be left alone. It felt as if his heart was a little glass figure on which someone was stamping. But his face showed none of this.

He watched her rising from the floor, walking out and it felt like death. Yet he did nothing to stop her, because it wouldn't have been the right thing to do. The right thing was now in his palm – something that would fix his mess.

The same minute Lucius Malfoy had heard the news he knew what to do. He couldn't let his son marry some mud-blood, ruin Malfoy name, bloodline – everything! Thus he was prepared for the price of his future actions, there was nothing and no one who could stop him.

Draco knew only one way to safe her. It was to die first.

She was standing in a staircase fearing to go farther or to go back. He made his decision, but it didn't mean she could not make some decisions herself. The time was ticking.

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_I would really like to read Your opinion :)._


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